This article explores how TCTELA's 2024 Teachers of the Year forged the future through their literacy teaching at the elementary, middle school, high school, and college levels. Each essay captures how they understand their work as literacy educators and intentionally educate their students toward a brighter future amid trying local contexts. The…

In this commentary on "Does Sorting Students Improve Scores? An Analysis of Class Composition" (Collins and Gan 2013), the author discusses the findings in Collins and Gan's study on grouping to provide appropriate-level instruction to promote students' academic growth. This commentary critiques the credibility and validity of the…

This paper argues that typography can be an affective re/presentational strategy when used as a medium within the research framework of arts-based inquiry. Grounded in a larger comparative case study exploring the experiences of two elementary teachers in south Texas, the purpose of this paper is to (1) situate typography within the field of…

When institutional testing is done well, there are many potential benefits; however, it is not without its negatives. The Texas Youth Evaluation Project (TYEP) is an example of large scale institutional testing that yielded more than a few benefits. However, results reported some problems as well. Much has been learned from the TYEP, including…

In Texas, the members of the State Board of Education (SBOE) are elected in a partisan election. One of the duties of the State Board of Education is overseeing the writing of curriculum standards for the various content areas. A call went out to educators across the state, asking for volunteers to write the standards. Committees were formed for…

Discusses how study teams at one Texas elementary school function in helping the individual student, and provides an evaluation of this approach based on three examples: (1) the case study team; (2) the reading study team; and (3) the quality of life team. Lessons learned from this approach are explored. (GR)

The article explores the ways "uneven geographical development" conditions and is conditioned by local placemaking practices. Guided by David Harvey's work along with Henri Lefebvre's three dimensions of spatial production--spatial practices, representations of space, and spaces of representation or the "spatial imaginary"--I…

So that comparisons of achievement test scores across campuses would be unaffected by variations in test preparation activities, the Austin Independent School District has set out to standardize all testwiseness instructions and practice testing across the school system. Appropriate preparation activity was defined as that which contributes to…

Describes how a principal at a diverse elementary magnet school conducts staff development. She believes her role as staff developer is to focus development efforts. She encourages creating mandatory study groups, keeping teachers with the same students for two years, finding workday hours for training, and trying new, research-based innovations.…